Hello there and thanks for stopping by for a spell.Today's post is about not knowing and being cool with it.Read time: 6 minutes

MY LIFE IN FRANCE

Living in France is a delightful torture.She has the ability to make you beg for more while driving you completely insane and because you are addicted, you always come back for more.Welcome to my little French life.

I'm sure every ex-pat in the world, could share a story of trying to make sense of cultural differences, but try as we might, we will always be the oddly shaped puzzle piece. We constantly feel and ask ourselves, 'Where do I fit in?'

I have asked myself this same question and I have come to the simple conclusion of I don't know.

I HATE NOT KNOWING, perhaps it is a dysfunctional American personality trait. It makes me feel less than, but after spending close to five years overseas and reading books, I can tell you that I simply don't care anymore. C'est comme ça -- it is what it is.

But I have to say, everyday, I am becoming more and more Frenchified. I recently was called out on it too. It went a little something like this: "You are SOO FRENCH now." "Thank you." "It's not a compliment."

I shrugged it off, in typical French fashion, with a pffft and a shoulder shrug, but it stung and my asshole friend (love you, darlin') did have a point.

French is a Latin language, meaning it takes twice as long to explain yourself or say what you want. Ohhh AND let's not forget to use proper French grammar in the conditional tense AND remember to say please AND thank you AND throw in, 'ahh, that's so nice of you.' THAT'S JUST FOR ASKING FOR THINGS...ANYTHING! Now try having a conversation - Ohhh non non!

The French LOVE to have LOOOOOOONG CONVERSATIONS, so explaining yourself and attempting to answer their questions can be intimidating, especially when they ask questions such as: Why are Americans racists? Why are Americans gun crazy? Why don't Americans have healthcare? Why are Americans so fat?Mais, pour quoi, Jenny?!!

I have become a point person for all things American and it's a huge responsibility becausehow in the Sam hell is one suppose to answer those questions?! You can't blame French people for asking these questions either, especially since it seems only bad news and bad behavior gets front page news.

My response is always the same... "I don't know... it could be contributed from different social problems such as:" And after many hours and several bottles of good wine, even better food and profound conversation, we reach a congenial consensus and just chalk it up to not knowing any better. And sometimes, it's cool just to say I don't know.

Thanks again for reading and until next time, please remember, life is too short to eat bad food.

Frenchified for Life

is a fabulous little lifestyle blog about truly embracing French life!

​My intent is to simply inspire you to create something unique and beautiful in your everyday life. The French have this wonderful and annoying habit of seeing the world through rose colored glasses, might as well learn something from them!

That said, I lift my glass to you!

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